The United Nations came into existence immediately following the end of the Second World War. The creation of this organization promised a new era of peace and justice, a promise that its predecessor, the League of Nations failed to keep. However, despite the UNÐŽÐ‡s attempt at delivering its intentions, the UN had in fact demonstrated itself to be an extremely ineffective organization. Its negligent attitude towards world conflicts, corruption within its members and workers, and a problem-filled administration restricts this organization from achieving its goals.

One of the UNÐŽÐ‡s main goals is to ensure world peace and dissolve conflicts. However, in the last two decades they have failed to do exactly that. The struggle in Somalia was only one of the many conflicts the UN had failed to stop.

ÐŽoFollowing the eruption and escalation of the civil war in Somalia in 1991, the UN and the Organization of African Unity strived to abate the suffering that was caused as a result of the high-intensity conflict.ÐŽ± (Wikipedia contributors, UNOSOM II)

The UNÐŽÐ‡s response was to send relief supplies and peacekeeping troops to Somalia in order to restore the peace. However, despite the UNÐŽÐ‡s attempt, warlords intercepted the supplies, proceeding to sell the goods on the black-market. The war-torn civilians themselves received little to nothing. Following the failure of this operation,

ÐŽoThe United States of America offered to establish a multinational force under its own leadership to secure the humanitarian operation. [ÐŽ­]On 8 August 1993 Task Force Ranger was deployed; composed of Delta and Ranger forces not under UN control and so able to conduct more aggressive operations.ÐŽ± (Wikipedia contributors, UNOSOM II).

The US sent in its own special forces in an attempt to hunt down warlord Mohammad Aidid in the so-famed Battle of Mogadishu. The mission in the end resulted in a failure and Aidid was never captured. Ultimately, the United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM) came to an abrupt end when gruesome footage of dead US troops being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu surfaced within the media. To this day, Somalia is still engaged in a state of civil war, with tens of thousands of lives already perished. It will only be about a month later that another conflict will arise, this time from Rwanda, and on a much larger scale. Perhaps one knows all too well of the genocide between the Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda and the UNÐŽÐ‡s role in ÐŽopeacekeepingÐŽ±, but to understand the full picture one would need to visit the origins of this conflict. In 1919, under the Treaty of Versailles, Rwanda was given to the Belgians to govern. Under the BelgianÐŽÐ‡s colonial rule over Rwanda, the minority Tutsi ethnic group was favored over the majority Hutus and was given more social privileges. However, the tables were turned on 1962 when the Belgians withdrew and Rwanda became an independent country under HutuÐŽÐ‡s rule. Seeking revenge, the Hutus suppressed the Tutsis and tension mounted for the next 42 years, eventually leading to the Rwandan Genocide. After many talks within the UN, ÐŽoUnited Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) was established on October 5, 1993 by Security Council resolution 872ÐŽ± (Wikipedia contributors, United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda). Their primary mission was to ease tensions between the Hutus and the Tutsis. However, things were not played out as planned when Rwandan President HabyarimanaÐŽÐ‡s plane was shot down by Tutsi rebels (Rwandan Patriotic Front). This incident immediately led to the mass killings of ÐŽo800,000 to 1,017,100 Tutsi and Hutu victims over 100 daysÐŽ± (Wikipedia Contributors, Rwandan Genocide). Amidst all of this, the UN sits idly by while ordering its peacekeeping troops not to ÐŽouse forceÐŽ± unless in direct danger. Fearing that their role in Rwanda may turn out to be another Mogadishu, ÐŽomany of the participating peacekeeping nations withdrew, leaving only 270 soldiers under the control of general DallaireÐŽ± (Wikipedia Contributors, United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda). The UN, once again decided to abandon their support in Rwanda in the face of fear. Amazingly the genocide, a word that many nations refused to use, was in fact stopped by the poorly trained Tutsi rebels. Words cannot describe such irresponsibility on the UNÐŽÐ‡s part. The amount of casualties suffered by Rwanda in such a short span of time is capable of putting the Holocaust to shame. Or is it the UN? Regardless, Somalia and Rwanda were only the beginning of the long list of conflicts that the UN had failed to resolve. Other notable examples include, but are not limited to: Darfur, Congo, and Srebrenica. Failure to respond to these issues on the UNÐŽÐ‡s part shows the world how capable and effective they are in keeping their promise of peace and justice.

Shame, as it seems, is not something the UN is afraid of, especially in the case of corruption, which is abundant within the UN. One such example is the Oil-For-Food scandal. This program aims to give post-Gulf War Iraq a chance to sell its oil on the world market, and using the profit to buy ÐŽofoodÐŽ± for its famine-stricken citizens. However, one should have learned by now, that dictators are not to be trusted, and as a result, the inevitable happened.

ÐŽoSaddam held the money escrow and restricted it to BNP Paribas, a French bank. In turn, he gave oil vouchers, allegedly at lower-than-market prices, to certain high level individuals in the French Interior Ministry, the Ukraine Communist Party, the Russian Communist Party and PresidentÐŽÐ‡s office, and the UN assistant Secretary General.ÐŽ± (Mack, United Nations corrupt, uncooperative, ineffective).

But of course, should anyone be surprised with France and Russia (permanent UN members with veto power) when they openly opposed the American invasion of Iraq in 2003? What is surprising, however, is the fact that Saddam ÐŽohid more than $10 billion, according to the Government Accounting Office, from escrow accounts and redirected it to his bloody regime.ÐŽ± (Mack, United Nations corrupt, uncooperative, ineffective). Fortunately, the program came to an end in 2003 after eight years of scandal and corruption. Around this very same time, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) hired members from the Hamas to work for them in the Palestine region. This is the same Hamas organization that constantly committed attacks on Israeli citiesÐŽÐ„they are a terrorist organization! This is a direct contradiction of the UNÐŽÐ‡s goal of peacekeeping.